Storeroom furniture



y 1929. J. H. SHEARD 7 1,712,054

STORE ROOM FURNITURE Filed May 12, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WITNESSES INVEN TOR:

y 7, 1929- J. H. SHEARD 1,712,054

STORE ROOM FURNITURE Filed May 12, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m FJ( 12 WITNESSES '6' By cfosepfi Hflhearci.

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Patented May 7, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOSEPH H. SHEARID, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 'IO DAVID LUP- TONS SONS COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

STOREROOM FURNITURE.

Application filed May 12,

This invention relates to furniture or fix tures such as shelving, cabinets, etc., for store or stock rooms, or in other words, to structures providing a multiplicity of individual compartments or bins to accommodate as many different Varieties of articles. For use in certain industries it is requisite that the furniture of the kind referred to be re-arrangeable so that the sub-divisions, 1. e., the compartments or bins may be changed 1n number and capacity at will. One outstanding instance where this considerat onas of prime importance is with furnlture suitable for store rooms of automobile service establishments where a great number of parts must always be carried in stock, and where allowance must be made for recurrent variatlons in'the numbers andsi'zes of the stored parts brought about by changes in yearly models of the automobiles. Furniture for uses such as exemplified is accordingly constructed with partitioning units capable of re-arrangement in accordance with the dictates of practice. With employment of ordinary screw bolts and nuts, as was usually the case heretofore, to detachably secure the partition units in place, re-arrangement of the latter was very laborious and, moreover, consumed a great deal of time as well as being costly.

My invention is directed toward overcoming the drawbacks just pointed out. This desideratum I attain, as hereinafter fully described, through provisions whereby the re-arrangeable partitioning of the furniture is detaehably held in place through interaction of the parts themselves thereby dispens-f ing with the necessity for separate securing devices and the use of special tools in making the changes. v

With reference to the drawings Fig. I is a partial front elevation of a storage structure conveniently embodying my invention.

Fig. II is a perspective view of one of the shelves comprised in the structure.

Fig; III is a detail section at the region III in Fig. I, but drawn to a'larger scale.

Fig. IV is a perspective view of a dividing partition used in conjunction with the shelves to set apart individual compartments or subdivisions in the structure.

Fig. V is a view, similar to Fig. I, showing an alternative embodiment of my invention. Fig. VI is a sectional view through one of 1928. Serial No. 277,288.

the shelves of the modification, taken as indicated by the arrows VIVI in Fig. V, and

Fig. VII shows one of the shelves in perspective.

In Fig. I of these illustrations my improved store room structure is delineated as embodying a frame 9 of sheet metal with end walls 10 and top 11 to support a number of shelves 12. Each ofthese shelves 12 is fashioned in the present instance, from a single piece of sheet metal with the edges bent at right anwith formation of retroversions 13m constituting jointly with similar counter retro versions of attached strips 20, holders for identification cards or the like not shown.

To enable further subdivision of the structure, I provide partitions 21 also of sheet metal with oppositely-disposed offsets 22, 23 along their upper and lower edges adapted to engage opposing recesses afforded by verti Cally-aligned pairs of transverse hook-like or S-seetion corrugations 24 at uniformlv spaced intervals along the shelves 12. In the illustrations, the corrugations 24 are shown as curved and have their component reverse convolutions symmetrically disposed above and below the body plane of the sheet material from which the shelves are made; while the offsets 22, 23 of the dividing partitions are curled to the form of rounded beads with the curvature corresponding to that of the troughs or recesses of said corrugations. It 15 of course to be understood that the corrugations 24 of the shelves 12 and the interfitting offsets or beads 22, 23 of the partitions 21 may be made angular or configured otherwise than shown providing their component halves are respectively disposed above and below the body plane of the shelf, as above set forth. By virtue of construction from sheet metal the partitions 21 can be readily sprung into place, for example, by

engaging the lower bead 23 in a-selected recess in a bottom shelf 12, -as suggested in dotted lines 'in Fig. Ill, and then applying sidewise pressure to flex the metal until the upper head '22 snaps into place in the opposing recess of the super-adjacent shelf 12. Preferably the inner verticaledge of the dividing partitions 21 are flanged as at 25 in Fig. IV for greater rigidity, and the outer edges rolled as at 26 to present a neater finish and to improve the general appearance and strength of the whole structure. In practice the dividing partitions 21 are made available in different heights to suit var1ous vertical spacing of the shelves 12. Referring now to the alternative embodiment of my invention shown inv Figs. VVH let it be assumed that the frame 9a is identical in construction and design with the frame 9 previously described. The shelves 12a of the modification are however composite in construction, that is to say: they are dormed with a single piece bottom 30 having double corrugations 24a spaced 'as before, but in this instance, extending the full "width of said shelves, the metal being turned up at opposite ends to aiford' attaching flanges 151a, 16a. The rear flanges 15a are provided by angle rails 31 Fig. VI which may be permanently secured to the tray bottoms" 30 by riveting, welding, or in any other convenient manner, and have their horizontal.

legs directed inwardly beneath the bottom 30 to assist in its support. As in the first 1nstance, the flanges 14a, 16a are pierced as at 17 a for selective registry with apertures'18a in the end walls 10a of the frame 9 and to take securing devices 19a. The frontal or retaining flanges 13a are provided by angle rails 32, which, like the ralls 31, may be either permanently secured to the shelves ,12a, or

detachably secured by any suitable means with capacity for ready removal to permit the dividing partitions 21a tobe slid endwise into engagement with the opposing recesses of vertically-aligned double corrugations ponent halves of said corrugations being disposed above and below the body plane of the shelves, and positionally rearrangeable vertical dividing partitions of flexible material capable of being sprung into place with their upper and lower edges engaging opposing recesses in adjacent shelves.

2. A storage structure of the character described having shelves with transversely-ex-.

tending hook-section corrugations at intervals, the component halves of said corrugations being disposed above and below the body plane of the shelves, and positionally rearrangeable vertical dividing partitions of sheet -material capable of being sprung into 7 place with their upper and lower edges engaging opposing recesses afforded by the corrugations in adjacent shelves.

3. A storage structure of the character describedhaving shelves with transversely-ex tending substantially S-section corrugations at spaced intervals, the component faces of said corrugations'being disposed above and below the body plane of the shelves, and vertical dividing partitions of sheet material capable of being sprung into place with rounded beads, along their upper andlower edges engaging in opposing curved recesses afforded by the corrugations in adjacent shelves.

4 A storage structure of the character de scr1bed having shelves with transversely-extending substantially S-section corrugations at uniformly-spaced intervals, the component halves of said corrugations being disposed above and below the body plane of the shelves, and dividing partitions with their upper and engage opposing recesses afforded by vertlcally adjacent shelves.

5. A storage structure of the character de-- scribed having shelves with transversely-extending substantially S-section corrugations at unlformly-spaced intervals, the component lower edges offset in opposite directions to co-ordinated double corrugations of halves of said corrugations being disposed above and below the body plane of the shelves, and vertical dividing partitions formed from sheet material with oppositely directed, rounded beads along their upper and lower e es to engage opposing curved recesses of vertically co-ordinated corrugations of adjacent shelves.

6. A storage structure of the character described comprising shelves having, at spaced intervals, transversely extending substantially S-section corrugations, the component halves of such corrugations being oppositely disposed above and below the body plane of the shelves, and vertical dividing partitions with their upper and lower edges offset in opposite directions to engage opposing recesses afforded by vertically co-ordinated corrugations in adjacent shelves. 7. A storage structure of the character described comprising shelves having bottoms formed from sheet material to embody uniformly-spaced substantially S-section transverse corrugations with the ends bent perpendicularly for service as attaching flanges, and with complemental front and rear flanges provided by separately attached angle rails, the component halves of said corrugations -being disposed above and below the body plane of the shelves; and Vertical dividing partitions held in position through engagement of their upper and lower edges in opposing recesses afforded by the co-ordinated corrugations of adjacent shelves.

8. A storage structure of the character described comprising shelves having bottoms formed from sheet material to embody uniformly-spaced substantially S-section transverse corrugations with the ends bent perpendicularly for service as attaching flanges, the component halves of said corrugations being disposed above and below the body plane of the shelves, vertical dividing partitions held in position through engagement of their upper and lower reversely curled edges in opposing reeesses afi'orded by the corrugations of adjacent shelves, and retaining flange rails along the fronts of the shelves capable of detachment therefrom to facilitate removal or rearrangement of the dividing partitions.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- Vania, this 5 day of May, 1928.

JOSEPH H. SHEARD. 

